1. Field of the Invention
The presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive process(es), procedure(s), method(s), product(s), result(s), and/or concept(s) (collectively hereinafter referred to as the “presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s)”) relates generally to dihydroxyalkyl substituted galactomannan polymers. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) further relates to optionally modifying the substituted galactomannan polymers with cationic and/or hydrophobic moieties.
2. Background of the Invention
Galactomannan polymers (also called polygalactomanns) are generally obtained from the endosperm of seeds from leguminous plants such as Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar gum, mannose:galactose˜2:1), Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek gum, mannose:galactose˜1:1), Cesalpinia spinosa (tara gum, mannose:galactose˜3:1), Ceratonia siliqua (locust bean gum or carob gum, mannose:galactose˜4:1), and Cassia tora and Cassia obtusifolia (cassia gum, mannose:galactose at least ˜5:1). The formula below shows a segment of a galactomannan polymer.

For illustrative purposes polygalactomannans obtained from the endosperm of cassia seed can be schematically represented by the structure:
wherein n is an integer representing the number of repeating units in the polymer.
Galactomannan polymers are typically used in personal care, health care, household care, and industrial care compositions and the like. Such galactomannan polymers are also useful as deposition aids, stabilizers, emulsifiers, spreading aids and carriers for enhancing the efficacy, deposition and delivery of chemically and physiologically active ingredients. In addition, such polymers are useful as an active component in personal care compositions such as film formers, hair fixatives, hair conditioners, deposition aids, and skin conditioners. These polymers are also useful for improving the psychosensory and aesthetic properties of personal care formulations in which they are included. These polymers can also be used in fracturing fluid compositions in the oil and gas industry.
The galactomannan polymers of the different leguminosae species differ from one another in the frequency of the occurrence of the galactoside side units branching from the polymannoside backbone.
It is well recognized by those skilled in the art that natural polygalactomannans, even when obtained from a single source, will contain varying ranges of mannose to galactose ratios. Accordingly, these mannose to galactose ratios are reported as average ratios. The monosaccharide content of Cassia gum can be determined using a method adapted from Englyst et al. (“Determination of Dietary Fibre as Non-Starch Polysaccharides by Gas-Liquid Chromatography.” Analyst (117), November 1992, pp. 1707-1714).
Polygalactomannans are hydrocolloids that have a high affinity for water. Although such natural polymers have been successfully used in various aqueous based formulations, they have suffered some drawbacks from a water solubility standpoint, especially at ambient temperature. It is known that the degree of water-solubility of polygalactomannans improves with increasing galactose to mannose ratio. For example, the polygalactomannan contained in guar gum (average mannose to galactose ratio 2:1) is mostly soluble in water at ambient temperature, while the polygalactomannan obtained from cassia gum (average mannose to galactose ratio 5:1) is only sparingly soluble in water at ambient temperature and very slightly soluble at elevated temperature. To expand the utility of such polygalactomannans in various aqueous based systems, it is important to chemically functionalize them to enhance their water-solubility and functional properties.
There is a need to develop novel functionalized polygalactomannans having excellent water-solubility and functional groups in order to improve their performance properties in various aqueous based systems.